Gabe Newell backed Xbox Series X in 2020 over hardware advantage

In 2020, Valve founder Gabe Newell appeared on a New Zealand talk show and was asked to choose between the PS5 and Xbox Series X. He picked Microsoft's Xbox Series X without hesitation, citing the overall hardware spec gap between the two consoles.

The statement carries weight because Newell made clear he has no stake in the console wars—Valve's development focus has always been PC. This was a pure hardware assessment. The Xbox Series X did lead on paper: 12 teraflops versus 10.3, plus higher memory bandwidth. For anyone used to PC hardware comparisons, the difference was obvious.

Real-world gaming tells a different story. The PS5's SSD architecture and DualSense haptics were proprietary advantages at launch. Microsoft had the stronger hardware but weaker exclusive lineup. Console wars have never been won on specs alone—Sony held market share with exclusive titles and ecosystem lock-in, while Microsoft carved out a different path through Game Pass and cross-platform play.

The Xbox Series X is the well-charted map: specs are transparent, backward compatibility is solid, but there's little sense of discovery. The PS5 is the map covered in question marks—each exclusive feels like a custom expedition route. Newell chose the former, likely because he's wired for the PC logic of "hardware sets the ceiling." For open-world enthusiasts, both consoles justify ownership: one for maximum fidelity, one for experiences you can't find anywhere else.